Tag Archives: Temple football recruiting

06.13.16
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Early Commits: So Far, So Good

daily

The Owls Daily List so far.

According to OwlsDaily.com, the early commits that Temple’s football team has been able to garner include a quarterback, an offensive lineman, a tight end and a running back.

So far, so good in more ways than one.

It looks like the Owls are following the Al Golden method of recruiting; that is, recruit an entire team every season. One player at all 22 positions, plus a couple of spots for specialists. That way, you both build depth and quality across the board and are not left short at any spot.

The Steve Addazio Method was more scattershot, often over-recruiting one position, say, offensive line, leaving the Owls short in other areas. That caused Matt Rhule to start out recruiting behind the eight ball, scrambling to fill areas of need rather than an equal group across the board. Looks like the Owls will be recruiting two quarterbacks this class. You might question that because they have a solid one for the next three or four years in Anthony Russo, but there are pesky things like injuries that the Owls need to insure themselves against.

As far as individuals, we do not get too much into the players before the signatures are on the dotted line because the nature of the business is that Temple will lose a few commits, but be able to poach a few more. If they are able to poach more P5 guys than lose guys to P5 teams, they will be ahead of the game.

Right now, I will be following the above four—there may be more soon—and hope the quarterback throws 30 or more touchdown passes (he threw nine last year) and the running back goes for more than 2,000 yards.

Then Temple will have something.

Wednesday: The Temple of the South

02.23.16
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Pierre Is Temple’s Latest Beef

fiftyfive

Willa Pierre is the newest Temple Owl.

It was a lot easier to judge Temple football recruiting classes back when Al Golden had the CEO reins and that was because of Golden’s straight-forward recruiting philosophy.

“I believe in recruiting a full team, 25 guys—11 players on defense, 11 on offense, three specialists, depending on need,” Golden told the Temple crown on his first signing night.

Current head coach Matt Rhule believes the same thing, but has had to adjust his philosophy because Steve Addazio’s half-hazard recruiting methods—going down the aisle and picking up this guy and that guy without regard for position—has left Rhule scrambling to get the right mix.

That left most Temple fans asking the question: “Where’s The Beef?” after the current class included a lot of speedy athletes, but not nearly as many of the so-called “big uglies” who create the space for the athletes to do their thing.

As John Kerry might say, help is on the way. The Owls’ latest recruit, 6-3, 293-pound offensive tackle Willa Pierre, is from talent-rich Florida. One of the things you’ve got to love the fact that Pierre was a starter on a high-talent-level OL as a sophomore. The three-star lineman has made a verbal commitment, and you hope he is as much of a man of his word as, say, Keyvone Bruton, was after his Sept. 6 commitment to the Owls. Not only did Bruton commit after the 27-10 win over Penn State, he said he would not take any other visits and he kept that promise, too.

If Pierre is any indication, the current crop of recruits will be top-heavy on linemen on both sides of the ball and then Rhule can hit the reset button after Feb. of 2017 and start recruiting entire teams once again. That method is a proven one for Temple.

 

02.06.16
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The Impact of Karamo Dioubate

Matt Rhule gets the phone call from Karamo at the 2:15 mark.

 

According to a name origin website, Karamo denotes an extravagant, ambitious nature with the desire for financial prominence.

If those qualities come through at Temple for the next three years, Karamo Dioubate will use a lot of the former to get to the goal of the latter and we will all be richer for it.  One day Temple recruiting will reach the level where there will be no under-the-radar guys and a lot of ICBMs coming in with nuclear-tipped warheads every signing day.

Until then, Temple will have to settle for rolling out an occasional Atom Bomb to drop on the bad guys.

dioubate

Karamo at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Temple got a couple of those weapons and, for purposes of this story, we will concentrate on the Hydrogen Bomb called Dioubate. This is just the kind of weapon along the defensive front line that the Owls need to unleash on Penn State as soon as possible and that could be as early as the second game.

He’s that good.

It’s one thing to “trust the film” but it’s quite another when the film is trusted not only by the staff at Temple, but the more highly-paid ones at Alabama, Penn State,  Michigan State and South Carolina. When it comes to Dioubate, they see what you see, a pretty polished and unstoppable lineman far advanced beyond his years. Now Dioubate will have to cram a lot of learning into a short summer camp, but he certainly has the physical tools to do it.



Imagine using Sharif
Finch and Michael
Dogbe—forced to play
out of position
last year as a
tackle—at the ends,
using the gap
leverage skills
of two-time
Pennsylvania state
heavyweight wrestling
champion Averee
Robinson as nose
guard and flanking
Arob with Greg Webb
and Dioubate at tackle

They say great coaches are the guys who build a scheme around their talent and Phil Snow is a smart enough guy to know that he’s got the physical talent to run a 5-2 scheme as opposed to last year’s 4-3.

Imagine using Sharif Finch and Michael Dogbe—forced to play out of position last year as a tackle—at the ends, using the gap leverage skills of two-time Pennsylvania state heavyweight wrestling champion Averee Robinson as nose guard and flanking Arob with Greg Webb and Dioubate at tackle. That’s a defensive line that is not only going to stop the run, but make quite a few visits to the quarterback, and make plays in the flat, ala Finch against Penn State last year. That’s not even mentioning other potential DL starters like Haason Reddick, Freddie Booth-Lloyd, Josiah Bronson and Jacob Martin (who was one of the 39,000 Temple students who had a sack against Christian Hackenberg last year).

With that accomplished, the Owls could return two starters at linebacker, Avery Williams and Stephaun Marshall, and have another LB starter, Jared Alwan, to rotate in for plays. Williams and Marshall are so tough they earned single-digit numbers and probably will do so again.  I like having two proven single-digit guys playing both linebacker positions in a 5-2.

The safeties could be a couple of guys, Delvon Randall and Nate L. Smith, who saw plenty of playing time a year ago and the corners will be Sean Chandler—the only player in the nation to return two pick 6’’s last year—and Kareem Ali Jr. (Or Artrel Foster or Nate Hairston.)

With that line making things relatively easy for the six guys behind them, it is not a huge stretch to conclude that this could be a record-setting defense next season. Every year, there are true freshmen who step onto the field and make big-time plays all over the place. Those true freshmen usually are in the SEC.

Now, with Dioubate, Temple finally has one and it opens up an extravagant, ambitious world with a rich future and a whole lot of post-game tailgates where the beer will taste like champagne.

Love to see the PSU analysts drool over a Temple recruit and the arrogance they had at the time that none of their players would decommit.

02.03.16
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The 5 Best Things About This Signing Class

Isaiah Wright looks like Jerry Rice in this video.

National Signing Day is one of those days where all 126 FBS teams win and nobody fails. The kids on the tape all look like Jim Brown did before he entered Syracuse or Cam Newton did after he transferred from Blinn Junior College (Tx) to Auburn. The teams that finish in the top 10 in the recruiting rankings will point to those rankings; the teams, like Temple, who finish far outside the top 10 will tell you to trust the film. There is a lot of film to trust this year, though, and it looks like the Owls and head coach Matt Rhule will be rewarded for their tireless work ethic for at least these five reasons. As of press time, we know nothing about Karamo Dioubate, but fingers and toes are crossed.

SGRATZ05-A

Imhotep’s Tyliek Raynor 

  1. Speed Kills

With players like Linwood Crump (Sayerville, N.J.), Randall Jones (North Miami) and Tyliek Raynor, the Owls added the speed they seemed to lack in the Boca Raton Bowl. Depending on who holds the stopwatch, those guys have 4.3 or 4.4 speed. I don’t see No. 25 of Toledo or similar types being able to outrun these guys.

  1. Eighteen Redshirts

The Owls had the luxury of redshirting 18 players last year and it should pay off on the field this year and this class affords them the same kind of luxury. An example this coming year might be Cortrelle Simpson. The scout team MVP in 2015 (meaning only the players and coaches know how good he is), Simpson could be that 4.3 wide receiver type guy the Owls need. Think Keith Gloster in the Arians’ years or Travis Sheldon in the Golden years. In this class, the Owls could redshirt 18 or so more redshirts, including prized quarterback Anthony Russo. That theory also applies to the handful of linemen the Owls recruited, some who will be needed for starting positions in 2017.

bruton

Keyvone Bruton.

  1. Immediate Safety Help

The first recruit after the Penn State win was a safety out of Virginia named Keyvone Bruton and that name is important because he could be one of the few members of this class to earn a starting spot right out of the gate. He’s polished and comes from an area (Hampton Roads) that plays great high school football. Plus, Benny Walls (St. Joseph’s Prep) is good enough to play right away as well.

  1. Isaiah Wright Flips

Well, the Owls did not get top WR targets Dae’Lun Darien (who flipped to PSU) and Darnell Salomon (who teased them with a twitter profile pic that showed him in an Owl uniform before committing to USF), but they did get Isaiah Wright to flip from Rutgers to Temple. This is a position of need for the Owls, unless they do something daring and break Jahad Thomas out in the slot to allow Jager Gardner and Ryquell Armstead to lock in a winner-take-all struggle for the starting tailback slot. My feeling is this:  Without John Christopher, there is a need for a tough guy in the slot and Thomas is a proven tough guy who will make more explosive plays after catching the ball. The dropoff between him, Gardner, Armstead and David Hood is not so great as the one between Christopher and his potential replacements so breaking Thomas out will benefit the ball club. That leaves Wright a chance to become an immediate starter on a crowded other side that includes Ventell Bryant, Romond Deloatch and Adonis Jennings. This could work out. No truth to the rumor than Salomon decommitted after he learned the nickname “Sal The Owl” was already taken.

tony

Anthony Russo.

  1. Bullseye For Top Target

All along, for the last two years, Anthony Russo had been the No. 1 target for the Temple coaching staff. It’s very rare that a Temple coaching staff lands its No. 1 guy. Only two coaches I know ever did. Bruce Arians targeted a wide receiver from Moscow (Pa., not Russia) named Mike Palys. Penn State also wanted him badly. Palys asked Joe Paterno if he would be allowed to play baseball. Paterno said no. Arians said yes. Later, recruiter extraordinaire Ron Dickerson targeted a quarterback named Kevin Harvey from Paulsboro, N.J. Harvey was only the Parade first-team All-American quarterback. Having seen Russo live several times and on TV a few more, I’m extremely confident Russo needs only a redshirt year to pick up where P.J. Walker left off and I could not say that about anyone else two months ago.

02.01.16
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Montel Aaron, We Hardly Knew Ye

montel

When Montel Aaron committed to Temple in the middle of October, he was just what Temple football needed—a mobile quarterback who could succeed P.J. Walker as the maestro of the read option offense.

Things change, people change, programs change and the parting of Aaron and Temple is a trade that will help both ball clubs. Very rarely does Temple get its No. 1 recruiting target, and this year the Owls got their No. 1 guy when quarterback Anthony Russo committed to the Owls. (It happened just once before, when Temple recruited Parade Magazine All-American first-team quarterback Kevin Harvey.) Having both Aaron and Russo around in the same recruiting class would have been an uncomfortable dynamic. It would have fostered great competition, but one guy would have eventually won it and I’m fairly certain after watching film of both that Russo would have been that guy.

aaron

Montel Aaron’s statement

Russo was the No. 1 guy all along and, with former Matt Ryan coach Glenn Thomas now the Temple OC, look for the Matt Ryan and Anthony Russo comparisons to commence in a couple of years. Already, Trent Dilfer’s nickname for Russo is Ryan.

For Aaron to make it all the way across the country and to find himself in a strange town under those circumstances would have been a tough thing, especially if he wants to play quarterback in the NFL. Aaron’s decommit from Temple was as classy as they come and, wherever he winds up, he will have a fan for the next four years in me.

My guess it will be in Hawaii for former Temple OC Nick Rolovich, the head coach of the Rainbow Warriors. (Rolovich was Temple OC for one day, accepting the job, then reconsidering the next day to stay with Nevada.)  When Aaron and Rolovich get together, they will at least have something in common.

I hope that Temple fans never become Rutgers’ fans and badmouth every kid who becomes a decommit. The qualities that originally attracted Temple to him still exist. Montel Aaron, we hardly knew ye, but best of luck to you.

Tomorrow: Groundhog Day And Temple Stadium

Wednesday: The 5 Best Things About This Class

01.31.16
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Waiting for The One

Linwood Crump made the play of the day on Saturday for Temple.

While it might seem like the Owls are finished with their recruiting, a couple of positive things happened for Temple football on Saturday.

One, Linwood Crump remained firm in his commitment to Temple, tweeting that he was going to spurn Rutgers’ attempt to flip him.

linwoodmeister

A tremendous statement from Linwood Crump

Two, head coach Matt Rhule was working last night on a home visit with Temple Football Forever’s No. 1 recruiting target, Prep Charter lineman Karamo Dioubate. Hopefully, the fact that Imhotep’s Tyliek Raynor and Archbishop Wood’s Anthony Russo decided to play for their city convinces Dioubate to make this the Holy Trinity year of Philadelphia marquee recruits.

In other developments, the Owls are trying to flip wide receiver Isaiah Wright from Rutgers. This remains a possibility because the Owls really need a playmaker to replace Robby Anderson. While Ventell Bryant and Romond Deloatch appear ready to take that step, the fact that they have not so far is a bit disconcerting because anyone with two eyes knew Anderson was extra special right away.

You want that one receiver that you know is extra special right away and Wright might be the right guy.

It should be an interesting next few days.

01.29.16
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The 46 Percent Theory

fortysixpercent

In that rather large binder Al Golden took to the interview with former Temple University athletic director Bill Bradshaw was a chapter entitled the “46 Percent Theory.”

Golden had taken an interest in the Temple program from the time he was a tight end at Penn State and an assistant there, at Boston College and at Virginia. All the while the Golden Goal was to take over a program of his own and Temple had been on his mind because, he said, it was squarely in the middle of 46 percent of the nation’s population. Draw a 500-mile circle, put Philadelphia in the middle, and there’s just left than half the population.

goldengoal

Al Golden, who is interviewing in the NFL, should be back in college soon.

Golden’s theory was that since Temple was in the middle of 46 percent of the population, its unique geographical position could be a recruiting advantage over most other schools.  Parents could be sold on sending their kids to Temple because it is a short drive from anywhere on the East Coast and inexpensive to get to the games. It is also in the middle of transportation hubs like airlines, trains and buses. In that circle are big cities like Philadelphia, New York, Washington, Boston, Baltimore, Richmond and Charlotte. Heck, even Buffalo, Cleveland and Cincinnati are less than 500 miles away from 10th and Diamond.

That theory helped turn the Owls from laughing stock to respectability and, maybe someday, the Owls will be getting Tyliek Raynors and Anthony Russos at every position. Maybe that’s the eventual goal, but being in the middle of so many people gives Temple an advantage most other AAC schools just to not have. Golden, who was 35 when he took the Temple job, got the recruiting end as soon as his feet hit the ground.

Matt Rhule is getting there because, in the current crop of commitments, the Owls have dominated the circle. Of the 23 commits so far, only three have come from outside the circle and two are from Florida. One, Montel Aaron, is from California.

The Owls don’t have catchy phrases like Rutgers (“fence the garden”) or Penn State (“dominate the state”) but, if they do well enough within the circle Golden outlined, it’s a better system than any slogans.

There are two more scholarships left, and here’s hoping the Owls pull in a couple of big catches to close things out.

Related:

We’re No. 2

5 Questions That Should Be Answered

01.26.16
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All Players Should Be Like Keyvone Bruton

bruton

You’ve heard of the movie “Be Like Mike.” Well, at Temple in one, two or three years the saying could be “Be Like Keyvone.”

When it comes to making commitments, there are few men of their word quite like Keyvone Bruton. The little woman who eventually marries him is going to be one very lucky girl.



“Just seeing how
passionate the fan
base is and watching
the team execute
and get a big win
– it was great.
Temple is where
I want to be.”
_ Keyvone Bruton

Bruton, from Lake Taylor (Va.) knows how to make a commitment and stick with it. Once Bruton saw the atmosphere and the enthusiasm of the Temple fans at the Penn State game, that’s when he decided to commit on the spot. Even though Duke and Virginia Tech offered scholarships, Bruton never waivered from Temple and decided to make no other visits. If all players were like Bruton, fans would never have to worry about decommits in the final week before National Signing Day.

Fans were a big part of the decision, Bruton said: “Just seeing how passionate the fan base is and watching the team execute and get a big win – it was great. Temple is where I want to be.” The best part of that statement was Bruton’s shout out to the fans, who even by Temple hater standards, made a big difference in Temple’s 27-0 finish of that game.

If anyone had any concerns about how the snow impacted decisions of football recruits over the weekend, what Bruton tweeted out recently should put all concerns to rest:

 

Bruton is the 56th-ranked safety in the country (he also played wide receiver for Lake Taylor) and could fight for playing time with players like Nate L. Smith and Delvon Randall next season. While the Owls figure to redshirt a majority of true freshmen, probably even including marquee quarterbacks Anthony Russo and Montel Aaron, Bruton plays a position where they will need depth. The Owls cannot redshirt everyone and seven to 10 players could see the field right away.

Bruton figures to be one of those players.

If he is committed to sticking to his football assignments as he is with the other commitments he makes in life, he should rise rapidly up the depth chart.

01.21.16
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Top 5 Recruits On TFF Wish List

karamo

Should be No 1 target.

With one week left in the recruiting process, there are a number of guys the Temple coaching staff is still involved with but, in our minds, if the Owls get three of these five guys, the 2016 recruiting class goes from decent to great. This is just our list, not Temple’s, but from a public perception standpoint, getting most of these guys would be quite a haul.

KelvinHarmon

  1. Kelvin Harmon, WR

The Palmyra (N.J.) native currently is uncommitted, and his most recent offer was from Virginia Tech. The All-American wide receiver has 165 catches for 2,674 yards and 36 career touchdowns. He’s a longshot for Temple, chiefly because he had the foresight to pick a visit to Miami (Fla.) this weekend during a snowstorm.

sebastian

  1. Sebastian Silva, LB

Silva, a teammate of Anthony Russo at Archbishop Wood, is under-recruited, much like Tyler Matakevich was coming out of high school. He is a clone of Matakevich (6-0, 215) only stronger in both the bench press and dead lift now and 1.5 seconds faster in the 40-yard dash. If Temple thinks this kid is coming as a preferred walk-on, they are making a big mistake because he has a full ride to a couple of FCS schools and his family does not have the money to pay his way through Temple. He is more than worth the scholarship. It’s amazing when a high school senior has measurables superior to the National Player of the Year, but it’s true.

  1. Tyliek Raynor, RB

Amazingly, Raynor, from Imhotep Charter, missed most of the season with an injury and his backup, Mike Waters, scored 44 touchdowns to become the Philadelphia Inquirer Player of the Year. If Raynor is good enough to beat THAT guy out, he deserves a scholarship to Temple. He is an Arizona decommit and he runs a 4.3 40 with the moves of a Bernard Pierce or a Paul Palmer. He would fit in well at Temple.

tymiroliver

  1. Tymir Oliver, DL

With the last two picks, the Owls really need to go after lineman and Oliver, from West Catholic, is one of the two best remaining on the board. He has an official visit to Illinois this weekend and it’s hard to believe that playing for Bill Cubit will be more appealing than playing for a charismatic guy like Matt Rhule. This is where Rhule will have to earn his recent pay raise and close the deal.  Oliver is a Rutgers’ decommit.

 

  1. Karamo Dioubate, DL

Dioubate, a 4-star tackle from Prep Charter, decommitted from Penn State and is said to have had three visits to Temple since the decommit day. Only one, of course, was official, but it would seem to indicate that Dioubate has the kind of comfort level with his possible future Owl teammates that does not exist elsewhere. He is also involved with Michigan State. He would be for the Owls’ line what Anthony Russo was to the quarterback position.

01.18.16
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Getting The Right Mix

beckster

Someday,  a player like Sebastian Silva could be lifting Matt Rhule like Dick Beck did for Bruce Arians.

On Halloween Night, Temple hosted Notre Dame and 100 big-time recruits at the same time. Among those players were Michigan commits,  Penn State targets and other various four-star players.

The Owls came up empty that night both scoreboards.

Unlike the Penn State game, when defensive back Keyvone Burton committed the next day, the Owls left that game with an empty feeling—a heartbreaking loss compounded by no commits. Had the Owls won that night, who knows what would happen but this weekend—at least from a recruiting standpoint—was three times percent more productive than that otherwise spectacular night for Temple football.

Not only did the Owls get their top recruiting target, quarterback Anthony Russo of Archbishop Wood, but added a couple of speed merchants. The latest pair are listed as “athletes” and they are Randle Jones III, from Miami Beach (Fla.), and Linwood Crump (Sayerville, N.J.) Both supposedly have sub-4.5 speed and, for people (raising my hand here), who said the Owls need burners like Travis Sheldon and James Nixon, they certainly fill that need.



Ideally, a great recruiting
class is a mixture of guys
wanted by P5 schools like
Dioubate and “trust the film”
guys and guys who
Bruce Arians liked,
tough guys, who could play
but were under the radar.
Nick Sharga of
the current team fits
that third category.

No word yet on the DT Temple needs, Karamo Dioubate  from Prep Charter, but that would be another Russo-like coup at his position. Temple has been known for final week signing surprises under Al Golden and, to a lesser extent, Matt Rhule, so maybe he’s one. He’s been involved with Michigan State and Auburn and is a Penn State decommitted player.

Ideally, a great recruiting class is a mixture of guys wanted by P5 schools like Dioubate and “trust the film” guys and guys who Bruce Arians liked, tough guys, who could play but were under the radar. Nick Sharga of the current team fits that third category.

Still would like to see the Owls make Russo more comfortable in his situation and add Sharga-like linebacker and Wood teammate Sebastian Silva. Even more than the Russo factor, adding an accomplished all-state player like Silva—who is faster, bench presses and dead lifts more than Tyler Matakevich now—would fill a linebacker need in this class that has popped up since the Owls lost a decommit to Rutgers.  Silva’s situation reminds me very much of Dick Beck’s when he came out of Central Bucks West. Beck, like Silva, was under-recruited but became the only captain of the 7-4 Owls in 1990. The rumor now is that the Owls will try to entice Silva to be a preferred walk-on and that just won’t work because other schools are offering him real money. Rhule should now, like Bruce Arians did for Beck then, find a scholarship for Silva. Just like I guaranteed Bruce back then, I guarantee Silva will be worth the scholarship. Fortunately, Bruce listened to me.

Silva is not only a baller, but he has captain-like qualities and the Owls would be remiss letting a quality player and individual like this get away. One day he will captain a college football team and I would like that team to be Temple.

Tomorrow: Why All Fans Should Love Kareem Gaulden